A garland of quotations LXVIII
Culled from the finest chowhounds in literary history, and re-woven every Wednesday
Roseberry to his Lady says,
“My hinnie and my succour,
O shall we do the thing you ken
Or shall we take our supper?”
Wi’ modest face, sae fu’ o’ grace,
Replied the bonny Lady:
“My noble lord, do as you please
But supper isna ready.”
•Robert Burns, The Merry Muses of Caledonia (1799).
Mr. Dryden, once at Dinner, being offered by a Lady the Rump of a Fowl, and refusing it, the Lady said, Pray, Mr. Dryden, take it the Rump is the best part of the Fowl ; Yes, Madam, says he, and so I think it is of the Fair.
•Joe Miller’s Jests or, The Wits Vade-Mecum (1739).
It sounds absurd, I know. But that is how it is. A tablecloth and rimmed soup plates announce dinner, just as a man’s cutaway coat and top hat announce formal dress. Nothing can change this fact.
•Emily Post, 101 Common Mistakes in Etiquette and How to Avoid Them (1939).
”I’m coming, Uncle,” said Hugh, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
“So is doomsday coming; you lazy boy,” rejoined Mr. Morris; “but you must come quickly, or you will lose your breakfast, Sir.”
•Frances Forrester, Dick Duncan: The Story of a Boy Who Loved Mischief, and How He Was Cured of His Evil Habit (1860).
I’d rather have a good supper, and sleep under the trees, than have the best bed in Californy without the supper.
•Horatio Alger Jr., The Young Explorer; or, Among the Sierras (1880).
We drank tea and ate some of our shoes for supper.
•John Franklin, Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1819-20-21-22 (1824).
There is a Persian proverb: “Death with friends is a feast.”
•Babur, Baburnama (1530).
There is a very well-known saying about numbers of diners that “seven make a dinner, but nine make a din.”
•Historia Augusta (C4?).
A monk asked, “What is my self?”
The master said, “Have you eaten breakfast or not?”
The monk said, “I have eaten.”
The master said, “Then wash out your bowls.”
•Jōshū, Recorded Sayings (coll. c. 950?).
“I will incite the kings and the chiefs and the warriors and the young warriors,” said Bricriu, “so that you will all kill one another unless you come to drink at my feast. I will set son against father and incite them to kill each other. I will set daughter against mother. And if that is not enough, I will incite the two breasts of every Ulaid woman to beat against each other and become foul and putrid.” “In that case, it would be better to go,” said Fergus.
•Fled Bricrend (C8).
References: Babur: trans. Wheeler M. Thackston, The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor (Modern, 2002); Augusta: trans. Anthony Birley, Lives of the Later Caesars (Penguin, 1976); Jōshū, trans. James Green, The Recorded Sayings of the Zen Master Joshu (Shambhala, 1998); Bricrend: quoted in H. R. E. Davidson, Myths and Symbols of Pagan Europe (Syracuse UP, 1988); some of this material is copyrighted, and I plead only fair use.